The Phantom And A Cougar
By Wanda

Author's Notes: Chet at his best or his worst. Can't make up my mind.

~ * ~ * ~

"You know, Roy," ranted John Gage, "the Phantom has got to go!"

"Why?" smirked Roy, barely stifling his laughter.

"Wh... Why?!" Johnny was indignant in his outrage. "I'll tell you why--because I'm tired of being the butt of Chet Kelly's jokes!"

"Well, you've gotten back at Chet a few times, yourself."

"Maybe so, but I would have thought Chet would have stopped when his last prank caught Cap. But NOOO!" Johnny said sarcastically. "Look at me!" Johnny was covered in shaving cream from The Phantom's latest creation.

Roy couldn't contain himself any longer and burst out with a roar of laughter. Johnny shot him an evil look. "Sorry. Just be glad that the others were called out on that garbage fire, or you'd never be able to live this one down. Better go get yourself cleaned up before they get back."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," muttered John disgustedly. "Just wait 'til we get out into the mountains, then I'll get him back. Maybe just leave him there!"

~ * ~ * ~

A couple days later Roy, John, and Chet were headed up into the mountains, to one of John's favorite campsites. John was driving his Land Rover and musing about how he could get Chet back for his last prank at the station.

If John had felt funny about the shaving cream bomb, he was really steamed when Chet had left a pie in his pillowcase. Now that had been a total waste of a good pie, and what a mess he had to clean up.

Johnny focused his attention to the trip at hand. He had already called the ranger station and received the report that weather was supposed to be nice for the trip. John was beginning to enjoy himself with every mile they drove.

The scenery was spectacular this time of year since the leaves were bursting with the beginnings of their fall colors, letting the men know that Autumn was soon on its way. Soon they reached the campsite, and began unloading the truck for a weekend of hiking and camping.4

"Hey, Roy, can you grab the first aid kit in case Chet steps into a nest of rattlesnakes?"

"That would be your luck, Gage," wisecracked Chet. "Especially after what happened on the fire road last year."

"Shut up, Chet."

They set up their campsite within an hour, and all sat down for a moment's rest. "You know, this is a fantastic site," commented Roy.

"I have to admit it, Gage, you sure picked a great site."

"Well, thanks, Chet." Johnny slapped him on the shoulder. "I didn't know you had that much confidence in me."

"Well, I wouldn't go that far."

Roy chuckled, and John shot Chet an annoyed look.

"Maybe I should have asked Stoker along instead of you, Chet. At least I wouldn't have to listen to your mouth."

"Awww, John, now my feelings are hurt." Chet snickered.

Chet got up and started to walk off. "Chet, don't go too far," warned Johnny.

"Don't worry, Gage, I'm just going to explore a bit."

"Yeah, probably get himself into trouble," Johnny mumbled to Roy.

"I heard that," Chet shouted back. Chet had walked through the woods about a mile he guessed when he heard something crunch behind him. He turned around to find Johnny following him.

"You know, I can get through the woods without a babysitter."

"I know, I just wanted to make sure you didn't get into trouble."

Chet huffed and turned around, seeing a flash of something moving in the trees. Johnny came up beside him, noticing the movement himself.

Johnny whispered out of the corner of his mouth, "I think now would be a good time to go back to camp."

"I think you're right," whispered Chet.

Both men began to turn when a cougar cub ran between them, howling in pain. Chet began to go towards the cub, which had stopped to lick at its paw. A hand stopped him from moving any further.

"Why did you stop me? I was just gonna see if the little guy was hurt."

"You twit." Johnny used Cap's favorite term for the guys. "Don't you realize that if the cub is here, then momma is probably somewhere close by? I, for one, don't want to be here when she gets here."

"I guess you're right." They slowly backed away from the cub, who was still squalling its head off. Chet heard a noise off to his right, and suddenly Momma came snarling from between the bushes. Seeing the two men, she flattened her ears, and gathered herself to leap towards the men.

Chet turned and ran, which immediately drew the cat's attention to him. "Dammit," Johnny swore under his breath as he jumped into her path, yelling for Chet to stop. The cat leaped and knocked Johnny down effortlessly, a blur of claws and fangs.

She dug her claws savagely raking John’s thighs with her rear claws and his chest with her fore claws. Johnny felt her teeth sink into his arm and he grimaced in pain as he reached around trying to find something to fight her off with. Her head came down towards his face, and all he could do was grab her by the neck and push with all his might, but the cat had too much momentum.

Chet, hearing Johnny yell, had turned around as the cat flattened Johnny. Chet looked around frantically, searching for anything to beat off the animal. He found a large branch and ran towards the struggling pair, shouting at the top of his lungs. He slammed the branch down onto the cat's back. Startling her, she looked up at Chet as he swung the branch again, this time impacting with her nose.

She lept off of Johnny in pain and snarled at the two men once more before retrieving her cub and running off as fast as four legs could carry her, the squalling cub bouncing around in her mouth.

Chet looked down at Johnny, who was hanging onto his arm and writhing on the ground in pain. The pain in his arm, legs and chest seemed almost too much for him to bear. Chet took off his shirt, then pulled off his undershirt, ripping it into strips and bandaging John's arm as best as he could. He helped John to stand. "Do you think you can make it back to camp?"

"Only with your help," Johnny groaned. They made it about halfway back to the campsite before Johnny passed out on Chet. Chet managed to throw him over his shoulders in a fireman's carry. Roy looked up to see Chet carrying Johnny out of the woods. He took in the makeshift bandages on Johnny's arm and upper legs. He hurried over to them as Chet laid Johnny on the ground in front of his tent.

"What in the hell happened?" Roy asked Chet as he went to get the first-aid kit.

"A cougar cub came running out of the woods between us, and then momma came out. I ran and Johnny was attacked."

Roy looked angrier than Chet had ever seen him before. "Don't you know anything, Chet? You never run from a cougar!"

Chet looked panicked. "Well, I didn't know!"

Roy cut him off from any other comments and unwound the bandages, checking the arm. He didn't like the looks of the wounds at all. They were pretty deep and already looked like they could become infected. Roy grabbed the alcohol from the first aid kit. "This is gonna hurt," he warned Johnny. Then he called to Chet, "Hold him down as best as you can."

Chet nodded as Roy began pouring the liquid from the bottle. Johnny screamed in pain as the pain caused him to regain consciousness for a few brief moments. He fought and kicked, then gratefully passed out again from the pain. Roy, who had watched Dr. Early sew John up many times, pulled out a surgical needle and some thread and set to work closing the worst of the wounds. Roy knew this was makeshift at best, but it was the best he had to work with.

Then he checked on the wounds in John's thighs and poured more alcohol on them, causing Johnny to moan. Roy set to work bandaging them as well. He also noticed that there were some gashes on his chest. He checked them out rinsing them with alcohol as well, and bandaged them the best he could.

"What I would give to have the bio-phone and drug box," Roy muttered.

Roy could see that Chet seemed a little shaken. He squeezed the Irishman's shoulder to let him know that everything was going to be okay.

Then, Roy and Chet quickly packed everything. "How's Johnny doing, Roy?"

"I wish I could say for sure, but with the blood loss combined with his wounds I know he's hurting."

Roy, with Chet's help, was able to slide John into the backseat. Roy climbed in and placed John's head in his lap. He wasn't sure but he thought that his partner was burning up with fever.

"Chet, can you get one of those blankets to cover him up with? He feels like he's burning up."

Chet's hands were shaking as he laid the blanket over John, who was now moaning in pain. He climbed into the driver's seat, putting the vehicle in gear, headed back out onto the road. Chet remembered that Doc Frick’s place was closer than driving all the way back to Rampart.

~ * ~ * ~

Johnny ran into the fire, searching for Tess. "Tess!" he shouted, though he knew his voice didn't travel very far because of the air mask
he was wearing. He spotted a movement out of the corner of his eye. "Tess? Is that you?"

"Not in this lifetime, but you're going to meet your maker in a few minutes!"

"Howard? You're dead, I saw you die when Vince shot you!"

"Wrong, I'm not dead, but you're going to be." Howard's eyes gleamed with maniacal glee, as he raised a butcher knife.

"Howard!" Johnny heard the scream, and looked toward the stairway to see Tess standing there. "Howard, if you're going to kill him get it over with now! "

"Tess!" Johnny screamed at her. "How can say that? We've been friends for so long."

"Johnny, Johnny, Johnny... I was never your friend; that was just your mis-guided perception of the whole situation. You see, I love Howard very much, and if you hadn't stuck your nose in where it wasn't wanted, he wouldn't be dead. So now you are going to pay."

"NOOO!" Johnny screamed as Howard plunged the knife into his chest. Johnny began thrashing around. "Johnny, stop it, you're going to hurt yourself." Roy did his best to calm John down but to no avail. Johnny became more combatitive. "JOHNNY!" Roy screamed trying to reach the younger man's fevered brain.

Chet pulled over to the side of the road and turned around in the driver's seat. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Yeah, hand me the first-aid kit, he just pulled some of the stitches loose in his arm, and it's bleeding again."

Chet picked up the asked for item and handed it to Roy. He watched as Roy grabbed some four by four's and rebandaged John's arm. Roy took another four by four, wet it, and placed it on John's forehead, hoping that the coolness of the water would somehow calm the raging fever.

Chet pulled back onto the road. He knew he was the cause of John's injuries. It was tearing him apart to see the paramedic in so much pain.

~ * ~ * ~

They pulled in front of Doc Frick's clinic, and Chet ran into the office. "Mrs. Peterson, is Doc Frick here? We've got a man mauled by a cougar."

"Oh my goodness. Yes he's here." Mrs. Peterson hurried to the back of the office and in a moment Doc Frick was heading outside following Chet.

Doc Frick looked in the truck. "John, Roy?" he questioned. Then he took in the blood seeping through some of the bandages.

"Let's get him inside."

Chet and Roy slid John off the seat and carried him into the office heading for one of the back rooms. "He's got a respiration of 15 and his pulse is 110."

"Thanks Roy," Doc Frick answered as he and Mrs. Peterson set to work on Johnny.

Mrs. Peterson grabbed a bp cuff and wrapped it around John's good arm. "His blood pressure is 90 over 60. Mrs. Peterson and Doc Frick worked well as a team, almost already knowing what the other one would need. She quickly grabbed a large bore needle and started an IV of Ringers Lactate. She took his bp again. "BP's up to 100 over 70."

Doc Frick leaned over Johnny. "Johnny? Johnny, can you hear me?" There was no response. He reached out doing a sternal run on John's chest, avoiding the worst of the gashes. Johnny moaned in response.

"Roy, do you know what blood type John is?"

"Yeah, he's O positive."

"I'm taking Johnny to surgery, I'll need the both of you to wait out front."

"Surgery?" Roy questioned, he hadn't thought that any of John's wounds were that serious.

"There's definitely some arterial damage in both the arm and legs. I've got to get it stopped now."

"Oh Lord," Roy muttered under his breath as the realization hit him. If they had driven all the way to LA like he had wanted to John would have bleed out. His knees started to buckle as his guilt hit him like a ton of bricks. Chet reached out helping to support the paramedic.

"Come on Roy let's go wait out front."

"Yeah, let's wait out front," Roy repeated. He let Chet lead him to outside the building where he leaned up against the wall, and then sagged, sliding down the wall.

Chet was worried about Roy, he'd never seen him this upset before. "Johnny'll be all right."

"Yeah," Roy tried to smile, but it just wouldn't come. He looked up at Chet, "I could've killed my best friend."

Chet kneeled down next to Roy; it was his turn to try to comfort a friend. "Roy you were only thinking of getting help for Johnny. Chet stopped for a moment to collect his thoughts before continuing. "You know Johnny, he'll pull through this."

Roy smiled weakly up at Chet. Chet sat down next to Roy, both taking comfort in each other’s presence.

~*~*~

After waiting for two hours Roy rose and began pacing. "Dammit, what can be taking so long?!"

"You know how long surgery can last. Doc Frick may have found more damage than he realized."

"Look Chet," Roy unexpectedly lashed out. "If it wasn't for you running from the cougar in the first place, we'd still be up in the mountains having a nice time. No you get shared shitless and run!" Roy's voice dripped with acid, intending to hurt.

"Don't you think I don't know that?!" Chet rose, his Irish blood boiling. "I know I'm the cause, but there's no reason for you to stand there taking it out on me!"

Roy walked into the office trying to put as much distance between Chet and himself. 'Maybe Johnny was right a couple of days ago. Maybe we should get rid of The Phantom.'

~ * ~ * ~

Roy had sat in the front portion of Doc Frick's office for a half an hour before Ozella Peterson came up front. Roy jumped up, needing to find out how his best friend was doing.

Mrs. Peterson smiled at Roy in grandmotherly fashion. "John's gonna be fine. Doctor Frick found all the bleeders and repaired them."

Just then Doc Frick, as Johnny had nicknamed him, walked up to the pair. "He's resting right now Roy. That cougar did a lot of damage that I was able to repair, and it looks like there won't be any permanent disabling damage. Although he's gonna be miserable since we have to vaccinate him for rabies."

Roy sighed in relief, then he grinned. "Doc that's the best news I've heard in a while. I was wondering where the fever came from."

Doc Frick just laughed for a moment. He'd heard from Ozella about John's brush with the rattlesnake last year when she went to visit her sister in LA. "You can go visit him in about an hour or so. Why don't you and your friend head into town and get yourself something to eat."

"Sure Doc," Roy replied. Now wondering how he was gonna repair the damage he had done between Chet and himself.

He walked outside and found Chet still sitting where he left him. Although it did look to Roy that Chet may have been crying at one time, his eyes were red rimmed.

"Johnny's out of surgery," Roy stated, hoping this would help Chet feel better.

"Do you think Johnny's gonna be mad at me?" Chet asked

"No I don't, and I have to apologize Chet. I'm sorry I lost my temper with you," Roy hoped Chet would accept his apology.

Chet smiled knowing Johnny was okay and Roy wasn't really mad at him anymore. Everything was right with the world again, and Chet was silently planning his next prank to pull on his pigeon when he healed, and returned to work.

The End